Ignite Life Center Senior Pastor and Head Pastoral Staff Appear on Stage at FMD Youth Camp Despite CSA Coverup
Editor’s Notes | Jonathan and Mariano Rivera coincidentally share the same last name, and their first names will be used for simplicity.
LAKELAND. Gainesville Assemblies of God (AG) Pentecostal Church Ignite Life Center (ILC) head pastor Mark Vega, his wife pastor Lisa Vega, pastor and public relations manager Nicole Gomez, along with her husband Adolfo Gomez, all appeared on stage at the Florida Multicultural District’s (FMD’s) youth camp in Lakeland on July 26 or July 27.
ILC was legally permitted to transport a youth group to another location despite three people from the church being arrested for committing sex crimes against underaged children: (1) former ILC employee/volunteer convicted child molester Gabriel Hemenez; (2) head pastor Mark Vega’s son, alleged rapist Christian Vargas; and (3) former associate pastor Jose Cruz’s son, alleged statutory rapist Noel Cruz.
A Gainesville Police Department Supplemental Report shows that senior pastor Mark Vega and former associate pastor Jose Cruz wanted to leave the law out of it after discovering their sons, Christian Vargas and Noel Cruz, repeatedly committed statutory rape on church grounds. Vega and Jose Cruz held a meeting with the victim, the alleged rapists, and several members of the pastoral staff.
During July 2021, 17-year-old Vargas began having sex with a 15-year-old girl. One month later, 20-year-old Noel Cruz began having sex with the same girl.
Noel Cruz was arrested and charged with sexual battery on February 19th for these incidents. Vargas is not being charged for this due to Romeo and Juliet laws; however, he is awaiting trial on two charges for allegedly raping a 12- to 13-year-old girl when he was 16, as well as making unwanted sexual advances towards a 14-year-old girl when he was 17 and 18.
On February 20, prior to the supplemental report’s release, the first anonymous whistleblower accurately called out its contents. The statement by the whistleblower read, “During a meeting, the senior pastors, Mark and Lisa Vega, their son Christian, along with the associate pastor Jose Cruz, his son Noel, and the victim were present. Other individuals aware of the situation include Esther Omeben and public relations manager Nicole Gomez, who are not only part of the executive pastor's team but also serve as center directors at Urban Strategies, the federal program located at Ignite Life Center, along with Nick Bruce and other pastoral staff.”
The supplemental report, released on February 21, reads, “The meeting occurred later [in the] night at Mark Vega's home in attendance at the meeting to discuss the sexual incidents between [the victim], Noel [Cruz], [and] Christian Vargas. In attendance at the meeting were Jose Cruz, Mark [Vega], Lisa Vega, Pastor Nicholas Bruce, Ester Omeeven, [the victim’s mother & father], [the victim], Noel [Cruz], and Christian [Vargas].”
The recent youth conference presented two new FMD youth directors, Head Pastor at Esperanza Church in Lakeland Jahaziel Galarza, and his wife. Mark Vega can be seen standing between the couple.
GnvInfo directly messaged Galarza on Instagram and acknowledged his new title as FMD Youth Director before asking if he was aware that the man standing between him and his wife was legally implicated in covering up sexual abuse against children. He was told he can reach out to GnvInfo if he ever wants to talk about his feelings about Ignite’s crimes publicly. He hasn’t opened the message.
Nicole Gomez can be seen standing next to Jonathan Rivera, who is the Next-Gen Director for FMD. Nicole Gomez’s husband, Adolfo Gomez, also appears on stage.
In May 2021, Jonathan and his family were in the midst of a housing crisis. According to an Instagram post he made, Vega raised 20k for the house’s down payment on the spot after Jonathan told him about the situation.
ILC defendant Noel Cruz can be seen standing in front of Jonathan with FMD Youth members in a photo posted July 2021. Cruz would’ve been 20 at the time, the same age when he committed the crime he is charged with.
GnvInfo directly messaged Johnathan on Instagram, asking if he was aware of ILC’s reported crimes and if he had anything he’d like to say about it publicly. He hasn’t opened the message.
When asked about Johnathan and Galarza in a text message, the first ILC whistleblower said that Galarza and his wife are former Ignite School of Minstery students, and this combined with Vega saving Johnathan from a housing crisis, would make them feel "indebted to Mark."
In March, three ILC survivors who were victims to Hemenez’s abuse filed civil lawsuits against FMD for negligence and vicarious liability, along with ILC for negligence, vicarious liability, fraud, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, accusing ILC of covering up Hemenez's abuses.
One of the suits details how Vega and pastoral staff lied to the Plaintiff, saying the sexual abuse committed by Hemenez was reported to the Gainesville Police Department (GPD) and they were investigating it. When the Plaintiff called GPD to ask how the investigation was going, GPD said there wasn't an investigation because it had never been reported.
Former Yankee and long time friend of Vega, Mariano Rivera, is named in one of the civil lawsuits because one of the victims was from his church in New Rochelle, New York. The suit states, “ILC and Refuge of Hope had a longstanding business relationship and/or enterprise in which children from the New York church were sent to the ILC summer internship as a means of generating income for ILC... ILC collected a substantial fee from parents of those attending the Summer Internship, including the Plaintiff's family, and otherwise profited from children from the New York church attending the ILC summer program in Florida.”
The whistleblowers from, or formerly from ILC who’ve spoken to GnvInfo have agreed unanimously that ILC has committed abusive acts, misused scripture, and handled sexual abuse internally, however, the one thing they have not entirely agreed on is Mariano’s extent of knowledge to ILC’s crimes.
In April Vargas was legally permitted to travel to White Plains, NY. Mariano resides in White Plains, NY. The second whistleblower said Vargas was in NY because “Mark and Mariano [were] prepping and coaching him on what to do.”
When recently asked about their feelings on Mariano, the first ILC whistleblower said in a text message, “I know that he was made aware of abuse that occurred back in 2018 with one of his young members abusing another child during summer camp at Ignite…. He’s a yes man and will follow Mark until the end.”
In Mariano’s defense, other whistleblowers have stood up for his character or considered manipulation as a possibility. The third whistleblower said Ignite “would use Mariano as a catalyst for Ignite’s growth…. I’m either sure he knows what’s going on and keeps it on the hush or he doesn’t know because Mark gives him his side of the story.”
The sixth ILC whistleblower defended Mariano’s character, saying “I think Mariano has a good heart and good intentions. His Mariano Rivera Foundation does a lot for kids. It's unfortunate that his name and reputation is being associated with this garbage because I don’t think Mariano or his wife are bad people. I think they’ve been taken advantage of and deceived by some dude (Vega) from the Bronx who shouldn't be where he is.”
Despite Vega being legally implicated in covering up the sexual abuse of children, Mariano has not waivered in his friendship.
In late June and/or early July, Rivera and Vega had a friendly hang out session with their wives and several other AG pastors.
Rivera and Vega can be seen on a golf course together with three other pastors on AG pastor Michael Fernandez’s Instagram account in a picture he posted on July 3.
According to Fernandez’s website he serves as the young adult pastor for the Cornerstone church in San Antonio Texas and is the director of the Impact Now School of Ministry.
The man to Fernandez’s right wearing a light blue nike cap is Jeffery Portman. Portman is employed as the Church Multiplication Director for AG.
The man to Fernandez’s left who isn’t Mariano is Justin Smith. Smith is employed as the Director of Development and Logistics for AG’s Next-Gen Missions program.
In a recent public Instagram post GnvInfo asked Mariano why he was still friends with Vega despite the three arrests and if he would like to comment on the allegations regarding his church in the civil lawsuits. He hasn’t responded.
On Monday, two days after the youth conference, Vega traveled to the Outside Church FP in Fort Pierce to deliver a sermon. The sermon was publicly posted on Youtube.
Vega’s self proclaimed “spiritual daughter” Nicole Gomez, had a brief moment in the beginning of the sermon where she said, “Every devil that came against me to try and convince me of my sexuality, of my sexual identity; was defeated on the cross. When God said ‘It is finished.’ When Jesus said ‘I am done,’ I have taken LGBTQ, I have taken transgenderism on the cross and defeated it by the power of His Grace. By the power of His blood now I walk in victory. Now I walk in peace. Now I walk in power. Now I walk in authority and I rejoice.”
Vega made similar comments towards the end of his sermon, saying “We wanna win the lost, we wanna deliver the oppressed, we wanna make an impact in the LGBTQ+ community.”
During Vega’s nearly hour-long sermon, he revealed his family background, made inappropriate jokes about his wife, talked about “church hurt,” and made references to enemies controlling narratives. Vega also pulled a prop house and a knife out of a tent during the sermon.
Vega said “I was born and raised in the Brox, single mother, my mom had me out of wedlock [and] she had nine kids with another man whose an alcoholic.” He went on to call his wife Lisa Vega “hot” in front of the entire congregation.
Vega continued into his sermon asking the congregation if they have heard of a term called “church hurt.” He rhetorically asked, “Why are you church hurt? Because you’ve been deceived by satan.” He went on to say “I don’t doubt some people have been church-hurt but let’s not let the enemy control the narrative.”
Recently a seventh Ignite Life Center whistleblower anonymously gave comments, forwarding GnvInfo a statement. The informant wrote, “God does what he wants, where he wants, when he wants, with and through whomever he wants.”
